What passes for acceptable behaviour in society is constantly evolving and reflects the changing times we live in. And these, sometimes radical, shifts in decency and morals can horrify the old guard.

Where once, they had been assured of a landscape governed by a shared moral yardstick, they may suddenly find themselves adrift of society’s progress.It clearly creates a sense of discord between the generations, but you know what, discord breeds comedy. And sometimes it can be a real side splitter.

You only have to take a look at grainy 1960s news footage of old chaps shaking their heads and spluttering “Have you ever seen the like? A skirt which is miniaturised?! Dear heavens!” to see how the preposterous and sanctimonious guarding of moral decency is hilarious.

And, of course, the comedy doesn’t necessarily come purely from old fashioned values held up against the modern world. That, after all, would be rather one dimensional. The real comedy enters the equation when there’s a conjoined level of hypocrisy, so would we see this in Grundy?

Genre: ComedyChannel: ITVTransmission: 14/07/1980 - 18/08/1980

Leonard Grundy (Harry H Corbett) has had his marriage dissolved and it’s left him feeling a little paranoid. As he leaves the court a single man, he becomes convinced that a reporter is on his trail and keen to uncover the salacious details of his marriage.

And the last thing that a newsagent needs is for the intricacies of his private life to be splashed all over the very product he sells. After all, it’s a highly lascivious tale what with his wife leaving him for Burt Loomis, bed salesman extraordinaire with the tagline “Bounce with Burt, the best beds in Basingstoke”.

Luckily, his scarlet haired pursuant isn’t a journalist. In fact, Beryl Loomis (Lynda Baron) – yes, wife of Burt – is simply a fellow divorcee. And it’s this common ground they share which she believes could lead to a beautiful, yet platonic friendship with Grundy.

Nonetheless, Grundy views both sets of relationships as equally repugnant to his moral compass which is struggling to point true north in a society where erotic magazines are embraced and as he spies in an issue of Love and Romance “half the London population practice oriental lovemaking techniques”.

But why does he keep letting Beryl into his life?

A Moral Blueprint

Grundy was a six episode ITV sitcom which aired during the summer of 1980. The series had been planned to air at the end of 1979, but after the first episode was recorded in summer 1979, a 10 week industrial dispute brought ITV programming to a halt.

And in more depressing news, Harry H Corbett suffered a slight coronary after recording the first episode.

Behind all this chaos, though, there was a series of scripts which had been crafted by Ken Hoare. A stalwart of television comedy, Hoare had written extensively for Stanley Baxter and scripted shows such as Beggar My Neighbour and Turnbull’s Finest Half Hour.

And Hoare’s scripts managed to pull in some very respectable viewing figures. The first episode garnered 12.15 million viewers and was the fifth most viewed programme that week. Ratings dipped down to 9.5 million during the middle of the series run, but leapt up to 11.95 million for the final episode.

Loose Morals Laid Bare

With vivid blue eyes and a characterful face built upon the foundations of a strong jawline, Harry H Corbett was a captivating sight whenever he stepped onto stage or screen. And it’s no surprise to hear that he was touted as “the English Marlon Brando” in the early days of his career.

With highly nuanced facial expressions, Corbett could convey a thousand emotions and words with just one turn of the head. The success that this brought Corbett on the stage meant that it was inevitable that television would soon come calling. And, with Steptoe and Son, Corbett found himself catapulted into the public’s consciousness.

As Harold Steptoe, Corbett seared his face into the British consciousness with an iconic intensity which has traversed the decades and delighted millions, but the majority of people know little of his other work. In particular, his final transmitted piece of work, Grundy, remains curiously consigned to sitcom oblivion.

And if there’s one thing that piques my inquisitiveness more than a forgotten sitcom starring a sitcom great then, quite frankly, it’s nothing more that witchcraft and deserves to be hurled into the village pond. So, with no witches making themselves known in my local vicinity, I trotted off to the BFI Archive to watch three episodes of Grundy.

When looking back at a beloved actor’s final piece of work it’s difficult to separate the tragic context of death from a truly objective point of view. However, I’m not a foolish man and when I say that Harry H Corbett is absolutely fantastic in Grundy you have to believe me that these words are much more than just a schmaltzy, hollow tribute.

Because, frankly, Grundy itself is not the finest vehicle for an actor to be sent off in, but Corbett manages to raise his head proudly above the parapet of mediocrity.

Leonard Grundy - a knowing nod to Mrs Grundy, fictional 18th century doyen of respectability – is most certainly a character primed for comedic hilarity. With a sanctimonious relish he rejects the permissive society around him, but his pomposity in underlining this sets him up for almighty fall after almighty fall.

And what seems to really grind Grundy’s gears is the modern obsession with sex. For Grundy, it all went wrong for society when sex education started getting a bit too graphic and real. In his day he was taught about the life cycle on the salmon and that was spicy enough.

Naturally, this aversion to enjoying the pleasures of the flesh no doubt ruined Grundy’s relationship with his ex-wife, Vera.

Whereas Grundy views Vera as failing to stick to her moral principles, he prides himself on a resolute moral rigidity. This clashing outlook on life is best typified when, discussing whether he enjoyed their sex life, Grundy quips “I had far too much respect for my wife to enjoy anything of that nature.”

Corbett, of course, was a highly talented actor, so it’s always a delight to see him exercising his acting ability. And he doesn’t disappoint with Grundy who feels unlike any other character he portrayed over his long career. It also helps that he’s paired with the legendary Lynda Baron.

Baron’s CV is as dazzling as Corbett’s talent and, truth be told, she matches him scene for scene when it comes to thespian smarts. And Baron has been blessed with a particularly mischievous and saucy smile which provides the perfect catalyst for riling up Grundy’s moral yardstick.

And the premise of Grundy is one which is just ripe for plenty of comedic strife. Setting up Grundy with the ex-wife of the man who ruined his marriage is a clever move, but then romantically pairing the respective offspring of both these families is a sublime touch.

However, the relationship between Grundy and Beryl is a rather baffling affair and this is where the problems begin to seep into Grundy. Beryl is constantly sending out mixed signals which not only confuses Grundy, but also leaves the viewer mystified as to her intentions.

Sure, she’s lonely, but from the very first episode she makes it clear she’s not interested in Grundy physically. YET SHE FLIRTS OUTRAGEOUSLY. And there’s no progression to this relationship whatsoever throughout the course of the series, which makes for a frustrating watch.

Adding further fuel to this frustration is the character of Grundy himself. Now, whilst he’s played with assurance by Corbett, the actual character is nothing more than an incredible bore. With a suffocating sense of fear pervading his every step, Grundy becomes an unlikeable character punctuated by nothing but misery and negativity.

Perhaps the only thing which brings Grundy any joy is his daughter who he claims is the best thing to survive from his divorce. Unfortunately, Sharon, along with Murray, feels pushed out of the main narrative and remains forgotten for long periods, so any sense of engaging parental relationships are struck off from the get go.

So, with the main thrust of Grundy being centred on Grundy – and, to a lesser degree, Beryl – what are we left with in terms of storytelling? Well, there’s certainly a lot of talking…

Yes, that’s right, Grundy delights in two hander scenes. Now, there’s nothing wrong per se with long stretches of dialogue, but they have to have a point. They should tease out character traits and slowly build up tension in order to provide a worthy payoff.

Grundy, however, eschews this for tedious exchanges which sadly fail to advance the plot or characters. And this leads to some particularly boring episodes.

The very first episode, for example, repeatedly hammers home the point – in a train carriage – that Grundy doesn’t like sex or anything remotely immoral. This appears to continue for 5 years, but I suspect it’s closer to 20 minutes.

When you compare this to, say, the first episode of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads – also set on a train – there’s absolutely no parallel. Admittedly, the reveal at the end of the first Grundy episode is nicely realised, but it feels like such a trek to get there.

Ken Hoare was a fine comedy writer, but in Grundy he struggles to ever get to the heart of the characters. Their motivation is poorly calibrated and as a result it’s difficult for them to produce any humour which truly resonates.

Sure, there are some nice lines such as Grundy claiming Sharon and Murray’s date at the Indian restaurant will result in Sharon being "swept along on a tide of promiscuity and poppadoms", but in three episodes I barely uttered a snigger.

The final episode is perhaps the funniest with Grundy receiving a selection of porn mags meant for a rival shop. Claiming that he needs rubber gloves to handle them followed by a wash with carbolic soap afterwards, Grundy is sent on a farcical journey to offload the offending magazines and reclaim his issues of ‘My Poultry World’.

Closing the series, this episode, rather than aligning him in some erotic liaison with Beryl, instead sees Grundy being arrested for handling copies of ‘A Pictorial Treasury of Scandinavian Au Pairs’. Finally, there’s an ignominious end for Grundy and it certainly titillated my comedy receptors, but it was too late to endear the series to my heart.

Missed Opportunity

There’s a fantastic premise lurking deep within Grundy’s soul, but sadly it’s obstructed by subpar humour and sloth like plots which lack any dynamism. The brilliance of Corbett and Baron’s performances can’t be denied, but I just wish they were acting in a different sitcom.

Corbett’s career contained many highs, however, and I don’t feel as though Grundy detracts from his legacy in any way. It just feels like a wasted chance to channel the talents of a great actor into something very special.

And this leaves me as morose as Leonard Grundy would be if a strip club opened next to his newsagents.

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Another month has almost passed by and, here at Curious British Telly, I've been busy working on my first print book 'The Hidden Gems and Oddities of British Children's TV', so the blog has been fairly quiet. However, last weekend, I went to pick up around 130-ish VHS tapes which, I was told, stretched all the way back to the early 1980s. And, with this sort of prospect dangling in front of me, I couldn't resist exploring them and shoving my book to the side for a week or two.

Whereas the last haul of tapes I got only went as far back as 1989, and mostly consisted of tapes from 1997 onwards, this new batch went way back into the early days of home recordings so promised to contain some intriguing slices of British television - especially when this collection of tapes included Scotch 'rainbow' tapes and also a very early Ferguson Videostar tape. Sadly, I found that the Ferguson case no longer contained the original tape and, instead, had a bootleg copy of Return of the Jedi in it, but many others held some fascinating looking tapes.

And, as per most tape explorations I've conducted, a high number of these tapes contained films, in particular many, many Bond films and about three recordings of Robocop 2. However, here and there, I unearthed a few little gems of television. The most common place to find these snippets and clips tended to be towards the end of tapes, after the main films when sections of previously recorded shows would emerge from the static of Bond credits.

Here's a few of the bits and pieces I've found - with contributions from some other VHS tapes which have come my way - in the last month.

1. Go For It - BBC1 - 30/07/1989

Despite believing that all but one of my original VHS tapes had been part of the great VHS purge my home experienced in the mid 2000s, I was delighted to hear from my mother that she had found a few tapes in my bedroom.

One of them contained mostly wall to wall Disney cartoons and the original transmission of the Doctor Who serial 'Survival' (which almost brought a tear to my eye as I remembered by Dad's dedication to recording the last two seasons of Who for me), but also, at the end of the tape, was around 5 minutes of this rather strange Gloria Hunniford health/quiz show 'Go For It' which ran for 10 episodes in 1989 and was never repeated.

2. Nationwide - BBC1 - 1983

The very first tape I picked out - a wonderfully retro shell-like case Memorex - from my latest collection of VHS tapes just happened to feature two Nationwide features from January 1983 which featured Anne Diamond and David Jensen looking ahead to the upcoming British Rock and Pop Awards (which would later morph into industry gig The Brit Awards). And doesn't Anne Diamond look young here? And as for David Jensen's early 80s jumpers, they're things of true beauty.

3. Saturday Superstore - BBC1 - 08/01/1983

Another early highlight of the tapes was this five minute segment from Saturday Superstore featuring Mike Read discussing the wonders of blue screen effects with Matt Irvine from the BBC Visual Effects department. Having been brought up on Going Live! and then Live and Kicking, I've always been a fan of Saturday morning BBC children's shows, so it was really fascinating to watch something that was likely playing out in the background as the four month old me cried for a bottle.

4. Rat on the Road Continuity - ITV - 1983

Admittedly it's just a snippet of one of the biggest stars of TV in the mid 80s, but it's also a very rare piece of continuity from Roland Rat which featured in his Rat on the Road show which followed Good Morning Britain in the summer holidays. And just look at that amazingly retro mobile phone which taps into Roland's sophisticated rodent about town persona. Oh, and it was filmed in the Hilton, Park Lane - a fact I know because Roland Rat told me on Twitter.

5. Coronation Street 08/02/1984 & Minder Trailer & HTV In-Vision

Nestling at the end of one tape was a complete episode of Coronation Street from 1984 which not only featured Percy Sugden wearing a delightfully 80s blueparka, but also a ridiculously young looking Kevin Webster and Gail Tilsley. However, even more intriguing was that there was a HTV In-vision section which featured Margaret Pritchard narrating a trailer for that evening's Minder and also introducing the latest episode of Coronation Street.

Now, most ITV regional In-vision sections were never kept, so it appears this is a piece of missing television, albeit tiny. Nonetheless, I'm as pleased as punch to find something unusual and will be fowarding it over to the good chaps at Kaleidoscope who do search a sterling job in archiving and preserving such bits of footage.

6. Allsorts 'Jumble' - ITV - 1989

Allsorts was one of my favourite children's shows as I was growing up and, truth be told, I carried on watching it long after I had departed the target age range. And that's why I was thrilled to find this on a tape that was sent my way this month, especially when the amount of existing footage on YouTube is fairly sparse.

This particular episode sees the gang sorting through some jumble and, whilst this may sound sedate, it's shot through with that amiable brand of presenting, adventure and activity that the series made its trademark.

7. Chelsea v Sunderland FA Cup Halftime Analysis - 1992 - Sky Sports

I had absolutely no idea that Sky Sports had shown any form of top level football prior to the Premier League, but it turns out they had been transmitting FA Cup games since 1991. And here's the half time chat from the Chelsea v Sunderland game which features Vinnie Jones, Ron Atkinson and Richard Keys discussing the main talking points from the first half. And Vinnie Jones rolls up his trouser leg to show off his FA Cup winners tattoo whilst Richard Keys wears a hideous Sky blazer.

8. Reflections - ?! - ?!

Now this is a real oddity of a find which has proved almost impossible to identify, so it's a curious beast indeed. It appears to be a gardening programme featuring a Welsh chap called Richard Bowering taking a jaunt round his mate's garden and admiring all the foliage, but that's all I know as the end of it is missing, so I can't identify a channel or year of production.

However, given that many of the tapes I've received this month have HTV or BBC Wales idents throughout them, and this show features the heavy presence of Welsh accents (and miners), makes me think this is some type of regional programme. If anyone's got any ideas then please get in touch as I'd love to identify it!

A massive thanks, of course, goes out to the people who have donated tapes to me this month. And, as ever, I'm still on the lookout for plenty more of your old VHS tapes (particularly ones from the 1980s), so send me an email if you can help!

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Although not an exceptionally popular child, I could still lay claim to a decent amount of friends. However, over the years, I've lost touch with so many of them that I barely need one hand to count those I still speak to. It's not a surprise, though, as everyone starts drifting in different directions as they get older and, anyway, I'm not sure I ever really liked Stephen Watlington, James Pashley or Mark Ewings (an undeniable scroat who nicked some of my Monster in my Pockets).

The friends you do stay in touch with, though, offer not only a wonderful excuse for nostalgic meanderings and recollections, but also a firm friendship which promises to deliver plenty more adventure for decades to come. At least that's what you'd like to think, but there's always the chance you'll get lumbered with the type of associates you thought (and hoped) would swiftly disappear with the last vestiges of acne and teenage angst. A case in point is the situation comedy stylings of Me, You and Him.

John (Nick Hancock) is a PE teacher by trade, but covers other subjects such as Maths and English (subjects that awards homework marks to based on random numbers he hits on a dartboard or, where necessary, the roll of a dice). Harry (Hugh Dennis) is the quintessential career man with an anal dedication to work at the expense of all else, but behind this studious front he pines desperately for his ex-girlfriend Claire (Adie Allen). Mark, meanwhile, is certainly educated, but, in reality, he's an unemployed layabout who lives with his parents.

This trio of characters haven't, though, just been thrown together randomly. Friends since childhood, they've been in and out of each others lives ever since. Harry has been working abroad for the last three years - in which time Mark secretly dated Claire for a few months - but now he's back and has moved into John's flat until he patches things up with Claire. In the flat above live probation officer Helen (Harriet Thorpe) along with Todd (Ron Donachie) - the pair met whilst Todd was doing a two year suspended sentence for aggravated burglary.

Together, John, Harry and Mark navigate their way through life (and the glowing embers of their friendships) in the early 90s (in fictional London area Southbridge) as John seeks to earn extra cash with private French tuition (he's still learning himself), Harry attempts to reignite his romance with Claire by taking her to see Dire Straits, but ends up locked in the flat and covered in paint whilst Mark ends up the best man for a highly irritating childhood friend he can barely remember.

Me, You and Who?

Me, You and Him was a six part series which aired in 1992 on ITV and was written by Nick Hancock, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. Episodes aired on 8.30pm on Thursday evenings and no repeats of the series ever aired.

Wanting to know a little more about the show, I caught up with Nick Hancock to see what he remembered about the series all these years on:

"Steve, Hugh and I had been great friends since the off and it was made easier by the fact that they were two of the nicest men you could ever meet, so we always worked well together. We hadn't long left university, so flat sharing was something that was on all our minds and, first and foremost, we wanted to be in it!

Whilst we were all making waves in comedy at the time, we certainly had to work hard to get Me, You and Him commissioned. Steve did the lion's share of the writing with Hugh a close second, I was more coffee monitor than anything! It was very different to performing in the Footlights as sitcom is such a frustratingly stop/start process that you need to keep the adrenaline under control, the complete opposite of live work.Luckily, it was relatively stress free as we had a wonderful team around us. Also, ignorance (which we had in abundance) is bliss, but I still learned that sitcom is very hard to do. There wasn't really any chat about a second series, like bestiality once is probably enough"

Flat Share Fun

I recently unearthed an episode of the Punt and Dennis sketch show and, whilst admiring it, a loyal Twitter follower (and fellow comedyphile) asked if I remembered the sitcom that Punt and Dennis had done with Nick Hancock. And, stone me, I hadn't even heard of it, let alone had the capacity to store its existence in my memory. Naturally, I couldn't go too long without watching even a trailer for it, so got to work searching for it and soon had the full series in my grasp.

Flat share sitcoms are nothing new, so Me, You and Him transports the viewer to familiar territory, but whilst contemporary, male led sitcoms such as Men Behaving Badly and Game On were decidedly laddish, Me, You and Him is a very different beast. Although it's clearly moored in reality, it's calibrated slightly off-kilter which allows the Me, You and Him to conduct the occasionally surreal flourish such as Danny Baker (complete with 90s soap powder) stalking John and Mark round a supermarket.

The episodes are well crafted and make for an easy watch due to the overall bonhomie pulsing through the series' veins. Sure, they're not meticulous pieces of stone cold comedy genius and they don't delve deep into the inner workings of friendship, but they're boisterous narratives with plenty of twists and laughs along the way - 'Crime and Punishment' perhaps being the best demonstration of this. And, despite the early-ish time slot of 8.30pm, the series avoids falling into bland family friendly territory andmanages to slip in a few risque comments as it goes.

Surprisingly, despite the presence of arch satirists Punt and Dennis, there's no near the knuckle satire, but, instead, there are LOADS of early 90s references sprinkled throughout.

In fact, there's enough that I'm seriously considering starting up a Me, You and Him drinking game where you have to down a shot for every 90s reference. BBC soap disaster Eldorado gets several withering mentions, the Colgate Actibrush "Still Working!" advert keeps John busy for half an episode and then there's the aforementioned Danny Baker cameo. Oh, and there's a disturbing Jim'll Fix It reference where John claims to know Jimmy Saville and can 'fix it' for a pupil of his to sleep with Moira Stuart...

What really caught my attention, though, were the characters and the actors behind them and the uncanny similarities to their own lives.

Nick Hancock - previously a PE teacher and forever a suffering Stoke fan - gives a wry edge to John and seems to really delight in his conniving, lazy antics. Punt, meanwhile, appears to have tumbled out of a 6th form common room with his smarts being undermined by his reliance on his parents, but provides plenty of comic relief. Dennis, who spent six years in marketing at Unilever, is less likeable due to his character's workaholic dedication - and this is why his storyline with Claire fails to fully gel and engage - but still generates enough pomposity to be relentlessly pricked.

And, isn't it great seeing these three eager comedy pups chomping at the bit and ready to take on the world years before Room 101, Punt and Dennis, They Think It's All Over and Outnumbered really put them on the comedy map?

A Friend in Need?

Writing in the Daily Express at the time, critic Compton Miller dismissed Me, You and Him as "a misguided, claustrophobic offcut from The Mary Whitehouse Experience", but he also described Harry as "flash" and "aggressive", so I've got no idea what he was watching at the time.

Personally, I found something inherently enjoyable about the series. It's not the most fantastic sitcom I've ever seen (or even featured on this blog), but the chemistry between the creative team delivers a fun sitcom made by three long term friends who, obviously, knew a good friendship when they saw one. And wouldn't nick each other's Monster in my Pockets.